1. I get to make up stuff all day long.
2. Lying on the couch with my eyes shut is, arguably, “working.”
3. If the people I am working with (read: characters) piss me off, I can kill them.
4. At parties, when people ask you what you do, it’s so much fun to say, “I’m a novelist.”
5. Did I mention the part about lying for a living? (Well, maybe that’s not so uncommon. I live, after all, in D.C.)
6. I get to make people laugh, and otherwise distract them from bad stuff.
7. The pajamas, the bathrobes, the bunny slippers…
8. No commute.
9. I set my own schedule.
10. It’s never boring. Unless I’m doing it wrong. (Or it’s galleys.)
11. Buying books is a business expense.
12. Reading books is “industry research.”
13. According to the Lloyd Dobbler theory of careers, you can do one of the following: buy, sell, process or repair. I always liked process the most. I get such a kick out of the fact that I’m a creator. There is nothing, and then there is a manuscript. I hold it in my hands. I like seeing what a big stack it makes all printed out.
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28 Comments
November 9, 2006 at 4:31 am
I wish I had a writing talent! Happy TT
November 9, 2006 at 4:33 am
Love this list and it is so true. Next week you can tell us 13 things you don’t like about your job. *gg*
Rae
November 9, 2006 at 5:00 am
Do you really have the bunny slippers?
I love that part about giving people an escape too. I know how important it is to me…in writing and reading.
November 9, 2006 at 6:00 am
love this…love number 13..hubby would love this..if you get bored, say hi to http://www.valtool.blogspot.com
loved this TT
November 9, 2006 at 11:00 am
I love 11 and 12. LOL.
November 9, 2006 at 12:26 pm
I love your job too!
Nice list, and very true. We’re so lucky!
November 9, 2006 at 1:45 pm
Not everyone is gifted with the talent to write.
I’m just glad that you are enjoying what you love to do most 
Happy Thursday!
November 9, 2006 at 1:56 pm
I love this job too. Especially the ‘uniform’ *g*
But you’re right. The process is the fun part.
November 9, 2006 at 2:05 pm
Speaking of loving your job – how has the transition to full time writer been?
If I had to make this list about my job I think I could come up with one thing today…sigh…
November 9, 2006 at 2:10 pm
Ahhh I wish I had your job!
Happy TT!
November 9, 2006 at 2:12 pm
Ahhh I wish I had your job!
Happy TT!
November 9, 2006 at 3:00 pm
I’m so jealous! Especially since I’m sick today. If I had your job, I wouldn’t be in the office feeling miserable!
November 9, 2006 at 3:02 pm
Diana, thank you for posting such a positive list about our job. I get tired of writers acting like it’s such an arduous torture to write a story. Let’s admit that we get to play for a living.
November 9, 2006 at 3:16 pm
You know, it’s also fun at parties to say “I’m a hooker”
Sure it’s a different reaction, but it sure is funny.
November 9, 2006 at 3:48 pm
They’re all good, but #2 is my favorite. Just can’t get my hubby to believe me…
November 9, 2006 at 4:04 pm
I can’t wait to take advantage of #11!
November 9, 2006 at 4:13 pm
Hmmm… My comment could be taken out of context. Really it was meant in the spirit of being a professional liar, it’s much more fun to make something up and see how long you can keep the charade up.
November 9, 2006 at 4:31 pm
You know, I tried that at parties around here a few times, Patrick, but they started giving Sailor Boy funny looks, and then he had to play the whole thing off as if we were doing a scene from the West Wing, but he doesn’t look much like Rob Lowe… it was a mess. Politicians are somewhat lacking in the humor.
However, sometimes I say novelist and the eyebrows go up, so I quickly laugh and say, “Just kidding, I’m a fire-fighting zoologist,” which they accept much mroe readily.
November 9, 2006 at 4:32 pm
Carrie, it’s been a bit of an adjustment. I have been told by those who have gone before me that it would take adjusting to.
November 9, 2006 at 5:00 pm
Great list, and a great job!
My Thursday 13 is up.
November 9, 2006 at 6:59 pm
Hmmm. My list, if I were to write it down, would look strikingly similar to yours.
Except my slippers are shaped like Dr. Seuss’s “the Grinch.”
November 9, 2006 at 7:10 pm
I’ve been such a BAD blogger lately. This seemed like a fun thing to get me going at least one day a week!
November 9, 2006 at 7:10 pm
I DO have the bunny slippers, Alyssa. They are pink and fluffy. But they’ve been geting less use recently in favor of these great sheepskin ones.
November 9, 2006 at 8:55 pm
Man, I would have been happy with your old job…though I’m equally jealous of the current one.
In fact, is your old one open?
Happy TT! And much good luck!
November 9, 2006 at 10:44 pm
11. Buying books is a business expense.
I love this part
November 9, 2006 at 10:52 pm
Thats a great list, your right, your lucky!
November 10, 2006 at 12:07 am
You could just say you’re with him as a freebie because he was the keyboardist in Kajagoogoo and then break into ‘Too Shy’ chorus.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3RmYKRmSy-w
So what are the adjustments to being full time? Other than odd financial budgeting.
November 11, 2006 at 5:37 pm
I think my coming theme will be something like that. I’m a writer, unpublished (yet) and I hope to feel/say/do what you wrote soon. As for now, some things you talked about will do for me